Gun shop to raffle semi-automatic rifle ‘to benefit Orlando shooting victims’

A suburban Chicago gun shop is conducting a raffle to benefit victims of the Orlando, Florida, shooting massacre — and the prize is an AR-15 rifle.

The semi-automatic weapon that Second Amendment Sports in McHenry plans to give away is similar to the gun used in the Orlando attack that killed 49 people and wounded dozens more in a gay night club on June 12.

A McHenry County woman who lost her son in another mass shooting where an AR-15 was used — the 2012 movie theatre massacre in Colorado — called the shop’s raffle “offensive.”

But gun shop owners say their intent was not to offend or to make a political statement but to help the Orlando victims by raffling off one of the shop’s most popular products.

“We wanted to do something for the loss of lives and injuries that happened to people in Orlando,” said Bert Irslinger Jr., who owns the shop with his father, Bert Sr.

“I understand that there are different opinions out there,” said store marketing director Vic Santi. “We don’t look at this as a gun issue. We look at this as a terrorism issue.”